"We'll have to be looking at only taking these fish to other lakes that have zebra mussels," he said. "You know, with the zebra mussel issue, our number of lakes are sort of limited. Right now it could be as small as a list of just four lakes that could possibly get these fish."

"So it will entail some just reordering of where fish go, perhaps at a cost of some efficiency," Drewes said. "Where typically those fish might be stocked more local we might have to move those a little further away so we can comply with the invasive species concerns."

That might mean trucking fish from rearing ponds in other parts of the state.

Drewes said the DNR stocks about 25,000 muskie in as many as 30 lakes each year.

By comparison, he said, the DNR stocks about three million walleye in more than 300 lakes a year.

The DNR uses about 280 rearing ponds, most to raise walleye, and a handful to raise muskie for stocking in Minnesota lakes.